Many Popular Routers Can Easily Be Hacked

Below:

Next story in Tech and gadgets

One might reasonably expect routers to be bastions of security,
but in reality, they're quite easy to attack. A study from the
Independent Security Evaluators website determined that 13 of the
most popular small office/home office (SOHO) routers contained
vulnerabilities that made hacking anywhere from feasible to
effortless.

Researchers evaluated the Linksys WRT310Nv2, Belkin F5D8236-4 v2,
Belkin N300, Belkin N900, Netgear WNDR4700, TP-Link WR1043N,
Verizon Actiontec, D-Link DIR-865L and five other routers yet to
be revealed. They then assessed each router based on attacks from
a Remote Adversary (an attacker anywhere on the Web) or a Local
Adversary (an attacker logged into the network).

Each router earned a rating based on which kind of attacks it
allowed: "Trivial" attacks can occur without any action on the
user's part. "Unauthenticated" attacks require a user to click on
a malicious link, but do not require access to the router's login
information. "Authenticated" attacks require a hacker to know the
router's credentials (although this is not uncommon, since many
users never change their default settings).

The
findings indicate that no router is perfectly safe, and a few
are downright vulnerable. All 13 routers are vulnerable to local
network attacks, and 11 of them are susceptible to Web attacks.
Two of them allowed Unauthenticated online attacks, and four
routers earned an ignominious Trivial rating over a local
network.

This is not the first time that a Linksys router has come under
fire recently. Last week, independent researcher Phil Purviance
discovered
a significant flaw in the consumer-grade N600 router.

Of the named routers, the Belkin N300 and Belkin N900 were the
most unsafe, both allowing Trivial, Unauthenticated and Authentic
attacks locally, and Unauthenticated and Authentic attacks
remotely. One other router allowed Trivial local hacks, but ISE
has not yet revealed which one.

The Netgear WNDR4700 had a spotless remote record, but fell down
completely in local rankings, allowing all three rankings of
potential hacks. Otherwise, routers performed similarly, allowing
only Authenticated attacks both locally and remotely. [See also:
6 Ways to Get a Stronger Wi-Fi Signal at Home ]

End-users don't have many options at their disposal to deal with
these issues. As with any device, keeping the firmware up to date
and changing the default username and password will lock out the
vast majority of attacks. ISE also recommends disabling remote
administration, logging out and clearing cookies after each
router login and (of course) avoiding suspicious links.

Hacks in SOHO routers are also not as common as you might think.
SOHO users are, essentially, members of everyday private Wi-Fi
networks. These networks do not present attractive targets for
hackers, since big businesses promise more tempting rewards.

If you're a network administrator in a small business, keep tabs
on who logs into your network. Beyond that, keep an eye out for
your current router's next firmware update, and be sure to
research the security parameters on your next one.